The sharp changes in winds, called wind shear, were recorded several times on a runway 30 minutes before the plane took off Sunday night, said John Lauber of the National Transportation Safety Board.

As a result, Flight 255 was shifted to a shorter runway, he said.

Wind shear and related weather conditions have been listed as factors in several air crashes.

The conditions can cause airplanes to suddenly lose speed and altitude.

Storms with winds gusting to 20 miles an hour were reported in the area at the time of the crash.

Lauber also told a news conference that the cockpit recorder picked up a talking computer giving a ``stall, stall, stall`` warning seconds before the plane went down, indicating the plane did not have enough power to stay airborne.

A New York Times report said a warning buzzer preceded the stall warning, which was followed by an expletive from one of the pilots, then two more stall warnings and the sound of the crash.

Lauber said it was too early to speculate on a cause of the crash.

Uncertainty remained Tuesday over the death toll. Northwest revised the number of passengers and crew members upward, to 155 from 153.

There was one survivor, 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan of Tempe, Ariz., who was listed in serious condition Tuesday in an Ann Arbor hospital with a broken leg and burns.

Wayne County officials put the death toll on the ground at between three and six.

With 154 dead on the plane, the number of fatalities would be at least 157.

The airline officials also declined to comment on news reports that the plane, tail number 312RC, had a history of maintenance problems.

They said all maintenance records for the plane, a Douglas Aviation Co. MD-80, had been turned over to the safety board.

Since the plane was delivered to Republic Airlines in December, 1982, it had been involved in eight maintenance-related incidents, said Northwest officials in Minneapolis. Republic and Northwest merged last year.

The officials said three of the eight incidents, which they did not describe, were related to the plane`s engines. But they said that because plane engines are routinely changed, it is not correct to describe the engine problems as recurring.

As part of its probe, the safety board is looking into the plane`s mechanical records, as well as the service records and training of the plane`s crew.

Safety board investigators say they have found no indications that fires broke out on the plane`s engines, as some witnesses reported. They also said there is no evidence that any internal parts may have malfunctioned and shot through the high-speed engines, causing their failure.

Emergency crews who saw gauges in the cockpit after the crash said they were stuck at 182 m.p.h.

Investigators have spread out from Detroit, traveling to Minneapolis to check the plane`s records, and to Atlanta, to review the training for the plane`s two pilots.

Taking part in the probe, which officials say may take as long as one year, are members from the Federal Aviation Administration; the unions that represent airline pilots, mechanics and flight attendants; Douglas Aviation Co.; Pratt & Whitney Co., the builders of the jet`s engines; and Wayne County officials.

Though all bodies have been removed from the crash site, many have not been identified, according to Wayne County officials.

A temporary morgue has been set up on the airport grounds for the Wayne County Medical Examiner`s Office.